Czech Republic Switches to Popular Election for President, Uses System Similar to France

Starting in 2013, the Czech Republic elects its President by popular vote. Previously, Parliament had chosen the President. Because the Czech Republic uses a parliamentary system, the Presidency is not endowed with a great deal of political power, but the Czech President does represent the nation, and chooses some judges.

The election law requires a candidate for President to have the endorsement of 10 Senators, or 20 members of the Chamber of Deputies, or submit 50,000 signatures. The Czech Republic has a population of approximately ten million; 50,000 is somewhat less than 1% of the eligible signers. Nine candidates qualified for the January 11-12, 2013 ballot. Three qualified by obtaining endorsements from members of Parliament, and six qualified with petitions. One of the six who qualified by petition was initially told she didn’t have enough valid signatures, but a court ruled that she did have enough.

No one polled as much as 50%, so a run-off was held two weeks later, which was won by Milos Zeman. Here is the wikipedia article about the election. Thanks to Thomas Jones for this news.